Fictional
by irinaclara2000
Summary: Mathias Køhler is a fan of the dystopian book series Vykings. He loves the BioTech, the plot, the fights between the Government and the rebels. But most of all, Mathias adores Berwald, his favourite character. However, all changes when the end of Burnout, the 5th book, and a bunch of strange occurrences reveal that this story might not be bound to the boundaries of its own world...
1. I

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d28b39cf4ad75cb97c994bf0a10a7d82""Oh my god, you actually started reading it?! Oh my god, that's awesome, where are you right now? Do you like it? It's really cool, isn't it? I love it so much!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a903a4c76a97f38957c3d94fabaee0c2""Trust me, Mathias, I know."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a75cf9e7a5dd44be511b0859f0ea489e"The two teens strolled down the school's main hallway as Mathias continued pressing Lukas about the former one's favourite book./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f955cb1baaabb56d8c0c692712286326""I can't help it," Mathias whined, "The book is so awesome."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="54489d35c808399bd7df3040e3835f7f""Yes, I am aware of how much you love Vykings," Lukas noted, "In fact, you state that so often, I bet all of England knows by now."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b256752e80cc88278d21a5c4574287b2"Mathias raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Am I that annoying?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9c0e36c82819127719e3ea667632018c""YES!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5531b54a75213f6f53daaaf04e825f1d"That hadn't been Lukas. Lukas didn't raise his voice like that too often. He preferred to express his irritation in more physical ways (a.k.a. using Mathias' upper arm as his personal punching bag)./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2b1ce99898bef9e725b22268eb96fc16"Instead, Mathias saw Emil, Lukas' younger brother, appear to their side, rucksack lazily slung over one shoulder, box-of-violin tucked under his free arm./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="09ef155cae678e2dc88361b95e5be9d9""I swear, if you ever go me through the plot of any of those damned books again, I will personally poke your eyes out with my bow, so you can never read any of them ever again." Emil seemed up to take that joke to the next level as he waved his violin box at him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d6687b250e04a5014d636c23846008b4""You're forgetting that I can always get an audio book," Mathias stated, giving a lopsided grin./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1790e199b535d85b110737a97f3446d8"The "youngling", as Mathias liked to call him, didn't look like he would give up so easily. "I could play such fales notes that your eardrums-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="abb2247c97066088bc1b3bedb6b5bc2d"Emil was interrupted by someone calling his name. A very specific someone with long, brown bangs, gold-brown eyes and a new, ridiculous pick-up line on his mind, judging from the grin on his face./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dfef8fef2f44bf8cc9796e72eeec4657""Hey, Emil, wanna hear this one?" Leon asked. His actual name was Wang Jia Long, but most people just called him Leon, since that was how he always introduced himself./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="397c43c58a295788ac4666030219d909"Emil eyed him suspiciously. "What's it this time?" he asked. Leon positioned himself to Emil's right and grinned at him while reciting his new pick-up line./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dd94a43c3ee51bee462134712d5484eb""If you were a pirate," he began, "would you rather keep your parrot on this shoulder -" He placed his left hand on Emil's right shoulder. "- or on this shoulder." With that, he dropped his hand on Emil's left shoulder, thereby basically slinging his arm around the latter one./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2209caf4dc92000ac7d901847d66e193"Emil's pale features turned a fiery red and he dropped his face into his hands as he tried to hide his embarrassment, Leon's arm still around him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8f7d8f9ef1c556ca7841c47b29d8652a""Smooth," Mathias complimented smirking. Lukas slapped his arm, but he too had a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0eb025d6c808271a0bb483e3299b25ac""No homo, though," Leon clarified as he let go of his friend./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f5af5fa6b20219517d5898eae51cdcd5""M-hm, platonic attraction," Mathias said sarcastically. Lukas slapped his arm again and the four parted ways to go to their classes, as the school bell rang./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="36289b29ae2d6a80e0db1e68d7766030"~*~*~/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="01475081e724991ca18baee15fd3c9d9"Mathias suffered through the boredom of his geography lesson in silence, blocking out the teacher's annoyingly monotone rant about tectonic plates with his newest read. It was the fifth book of Vykings. He was halfway through the 550 pages, dystopian monster and hooked on the action. His favourite character, Berwald Oxenstierna, was just fending off a flock of enemy cyborgs who were attacking the main characters' main headquarters, when the geo teacher called out his name./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d3db9f20eb241ff8d1f7bffafc121011"Mathias snapped out of his trance in shock and looked at Mr Wicks wide-eyed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="da37022dc2aff03e4cbc13b4ce8566bd""Well?" the teacher pressed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1929fdc4c25386777087cb94197f86c8""I'm sorry, could you please repeat the question?" Mathias asked, marking his page and closing the book under his desk./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1728af0e2ed3b3801a0127962e61a971""What are convection currents?" Mr Wicks repeated./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ce36d5852ab296fa1f36a3cf1fc6cc70"Mathias suppressed a sigh of relief. They had talked about plate tectonics for the past few weeks and he had skimmed through the chapter in his geography book just the evening before, so the question wasn't about anything new he could have missed while reading during the dead boring lesson./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2bacf7a0581fbf9925c436f00373c10e""Convection currents are currents that occur in the liquid material inside the earth's mantle. They're caused by temperature difference and result into movement of the tectonic plates," Mathias explained. Mr Wicks didn't even so much as look at him, as he let out a few "m-hm"s and slowly nodded, his nose inside the geography book. After what felt like an eternity, the teacher finally looked up and gave an agreeing "yup" towards Mathias, then went on to question other students about things they were supposed to learn during his boring - there was no other word that described them better - classes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="eb669b45a6416f2fe2a58d9d2c69fcf7""Wow, I'm impressed," Lukas muttered next to him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="587cd5013cda9c74eae60963795f12ee""By what?" Mathias asked in a whisper, "My supreme intelligence?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7c534f87ef185ff436ecc353d17403bc""No, you idiot," his friend countered, "I'm impressed by how unbelievably oblivious Wicks can be."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d51496305440cbdcbc484008e2014fe6""It's nothing new..." Mahias said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e0343d932f43657a16e17cc0d5e0f57d""Sadly," Lukas added./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f10f8fe8d8ac3f7662db2667ea193093"The rest of the lesson went on in its usual, agonisingly slow rhythm, while Mathias sank back into the comfort of his book. He tried to pay at least a little bit of attention to the lesson to avoid incidents like the one before from happening again, but it was hard to concentrate when Berwald Oxenstierna and his partner-slash-best-friend Timo Väinämöinen were fighting an army of cyborgs. The thing Mathias found most terrifying and exciting about the book, was that the cyborgs weren't just a bunch of mindless puppets in the hands of the writer. They were human – at least partly – and they were depicted that way. The book showed so many facets of the human nature that Mathias could barely grasp them all and shove them into one and the same picture. The author painted the emotions of every single scene so vividly and described the action taking place in such ways that the reader would get slung into the story in no time and experience it as if it were their own.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6fd245ecf03bfe9f0913e1739d9f4739"Lukas shook Mathias awake when the bell rang and the latter one didn't even hear it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="37b0eb3dae88da60d93edba5e5ffb488""C'mon, let's go," Lukas said, gesturing to the classroom door. Mathias looked around, surprised that the lesson was actually over. He shoved his bookmark between pages 358 and 359, slipped his things into his school bag, slung his jacket over one arm and followed his friend out into the hallway./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="81b78589de41d08bacfc3152e137cc4f"He noticed the fast beat of his heart. Tino had gotten hurt and Berwald had swiftly carried him away from the battlefield, but the cyborgs were closing in quickly and-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="81b78589de41d08bacfc3152e137cc4f"Well, that was about how far he had gotten during the geography lesson. And he really wanted to know how it would continue./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="48a377119b87bb5d0db3590e6100d5c3" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8b7de8679bd17456900282b5fa303a7e"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"~*~*~/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2eb591d142228595157b06d7d5006e72"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"A/N: Hi, guys! This is my story emFictional/em. I am uploading it on here from Wattpad and I hope you like it :)/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2eb591d142228595157b06d7d5006e72"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Before you dive in head-first, I would like to clarify that while the relationship between Mathias and Berwald is why I'm actually writing the story, I do not wish to rush it and the focus will be on the individual characters at the beginning of the story./span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2eb591d142228595157b06d7d5006e72"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Anyway, have a nice day! :D/span/p 


	2. II

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="147f41363ce2d67b0e64f0772709bbf1"Mysteriously, Mathias managed to make it through another murderous school day. That meant one less in his school career. Hooray.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b6df96867cc5fede9c59b83ebff4b34d"After having a quick chat with Emil and Leon (the two seemed almost inseparable to him) and waving Lukas goodbye, Mathias caught his bus home and retreated to an empty seat with his book. By the time he reached - mind you, almost missed - his stop, he had finished another chapter./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="07611bf5118ca92184d5527a4fa5796f"Mathias stepped out of the bus and walked towards his apartment, nose deeply sunk into his book. He knew the way well enough so he wouldn't fall over a slightly misplaced rock./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="36b3eb713f85a89aa347b3b9afd315af"Timo had lost immense amounts of blood. He had lost his lower arm in battle. He could be helped, however. The arm could be replaced. Berwald's crew, the Vykings, had a mechanical double./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="cf3d3785c094120691238d07685c31b0"But the operation was style="box-sizing: border-box;" /The crew didn't have much of the necessary equipment and their double was prototypic. The Govs, the original government supporters, had proper equipment. They owned fool-proof Biotechs and safe operation rooms./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2354d16fae3683cc1d07a0d16a548cff"The Vykings didn't./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d79488dd6b735d7ee165bd32940a1d70"They were in the middle of a civil war and could only hope that the Govs didn't find any more threatening armament to use while the Vykings were taking shelter in their headquarters. And they all knew the risks./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fe51f3cdfc205bbd7668a95baf69b6e8"Berwald was squeezing Timo's right hand, the one the latter still had, as his friend was slowly drifting away into unconsciousness. There were screams and cries, most belonging to Berwald, who was hoping for his childhood friend to survive./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="aa547a70b1e7d992a1f36d965d4c8881"The doctor arrived. Loud booms rattled the walls and the ground of the upper part of the headquarters. They had to get Timo to the underground section before-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="97b6196106b0282a94ab358b6afaff8c"Somebody walked head on into Mathias. The force of the impact was so great that, before he knew, the Dane had landed very ungracefully on the hard asphalt./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5c194a7d8d069b3eff88040c3ef4b2c8""Bloody hell!" he cursed. He always had to be interrupted right when the book got exciting./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3d663c9e1abac163a64a34a6c35cb668""Oh, I-I'm sorry, sir! I didn't see you!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Mathias got up and dusted the back of his jeans, before looking at the kid who had just knocked him off his feet. Dirty blonde hair, electric blue eyes, and a white and blue sailor's outfit. The kid must have been around eleven or twelve years old and no taller than 1.30 meters [that's 4'3" but the metric system is still cooler :P]. Mathias concluded that the child was probably a robot in human disguise, made completely of heavy materials - how else could he have caused such a strong impact./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6f4e9de3bbfb1c924ef34d0de4b3b21f""Nah, it's okay," Mathias replied sympathetically, spotting the comic book in the boy's hand, "I wasn't really looking myself, you know?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="340e80dc96d5813db692c71833384346"The teen held up his book for the young boy to see. The boy stared wide-eyed at the vividly illustrated cover./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1530a25bb2b4fd83341fdd65cdd1cb89""What's that?" he asked, while reaching out to touch the hardcover./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1055268e154bec477a5c993e6b1dc001"Mathias let out a chuckle. "It's called 'Burnout' and it's the fifth book of the series Vykings," he explained. "By the way, my name is Mathias. Mathias Køhler."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ab6b8d09fd6812e72cae017a5d18f85b"He held out his hand to the boy and gave him one of his brilliant smiles. The boy shook his hand, while mirroring the smile./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4f50a914407838fcb99f63ebb0465e81""I'm Peter Kirkland. Pleased to meet you," the boy replied excitedly./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0cd538bb3fadcd0dd3a53a1edd7f934f""Kirkland, huh?" Mathias noted. "You wouldn't happen to know a certain Leon Kirkland, would you?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="91f326db46ff3f798ea6871fb03be529""Oh, I sure do!" Peter exclaimed. "In fact, he's my brother! Well, adoptive brother, but I guess you knew that already."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e55ad146b7bc883a796b3b6b53d6c9e3""No, I actually didn't," Mathias said, "He doesn't talk much about his family..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7b329b48d4fd42739034c4813d83900e""He doesn't talk much about his friends either," Peter replied, "At least, he's never mentioned you to me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5ac148ee224667a99d3c87d11766e3a9"Mathias felt a wave of sadness wash over him. He wished he could do something for Leon, even the smallest and least important-looking joy. Whatever weight he had to bear upon his shoulders, if he didn't let people help him, it would crush him someday. If only-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8641c8a196fb449c73c855f47c9c9557""Peter!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8e6375b66b97d899b3e0aa3cf6cde6d5"A voice tore Mathias from his thoughts. He looked at the person who had called his little, new friend./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f37eeb2aa2b9fdc1c555149637970dc2"'Huh, funny eyebrows...' Mathias thought./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fcd267d14fc4c0bc7d856010efe177b6""That's Arthur, my big brother," Peter explained. After a moment, he softly added, "He's a real jerk, you know? Swore he would throw me out of the house someday."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="495fed5f50bd473830eeb850a48a3606"Mathias chuckled. "Well then, I guess I'd better let you go home with your bro," he said with a smile, "Say hi to Leon for me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f9927954ef3afe9af34968f9f08dc438""I will," Peter assured, nodding eagerly./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="33a24fb854f9f7221dd5fe6dd4c3cf88""Thanks, kid," Mathias said, as he started to walk past Peter. "Bye, see you around."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1cfa38f3d74fb4e635c5ad2ae5ec97eb""Bye!" Peter waved at the teen for a while before finally turning to his older brother and following him on the way home./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="36289b29ae2d6a80e0db1e68d7766030"~*~*~/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3a21d989b5809021424f1b3b217997b2""Mom, I'm home!" Mathias shouted as he entered his family's flat. His mother was probably still asleep, since she had gotten the night shift at the hospital the night before. And the night before that, and the night before that.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="616c2a8eda33d46662778774c823cc7b"Mathias dropped his school bag on the floor, right at the entrance of the flat, hung his jacket on the rack next to his mother's coat, and kicked his shoes off./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a5844ba40a8b2d789408551b06b3a851"The teen walked into the deserted living room and dropped his school bag on the couch, then headed for the kitchen to grab himself something to eat./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0df003b351e59d12e9a879afcc0397e8""Let's see..." he muttered to himself, "We've got some pasta - I think I could make that -, we have a frozen pizza..." He shuddered slightly at the thought. He'd had too much pizza the past week. "Oh, there's some sou-" He sniffed at the bowl of old tomato soup. "Nah, I don't feel like dying today."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ff64af67fafe58211477c1db93cdd10f"Mathias swiftly threw the expired soup away./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a6039e310b1183f9a5c2430517f258c8""I guess that leaves the pasta..." he sighed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="baa80d108b0be43cbca2fcb0a9b7a353"Mathias grabbed a pack of tortellini and some tomato sauce and started preparing his lunch. Half an hour later, he had finished making the food, eaten it and put his dishes in the dishwasher, then plopped onto the couch, book in his hands. He figured he could do his homework later./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="94890f8d23199975d8a5ea68a36d2176"Berwald was sent to help in the control room, while a group of doctors and nurses carried Timo into operation room and put him under narcosis. The building rattled as Berwald made his way upstairs. Somebody shouted about having to secure the main power generator. The lights flickered, people screamed, bombs went off outside the cement bunker. It was only a matter of time until the building gave in and the Govs stormed inside.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f6809c0799a9437a260aa4a72b6f1deb"Mathias stared at the empty half of the page. He reread the last sentence, the last paragraph, the last page. He couldn't believe that was the end of the chapter./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9dd30585eac87e132653e0ab6a2a33e6"The teen placed his bookmark and closed the novel, then got up from the couch with a sigh. He grabbed his backpack and walked upstairs to his room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1bf6e8aef109e05f0e2f8ddb6e6c264c""Yay, homework," Mathias muttered under his breath as he unpacked his math book and pencil case./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6d99a35f5305b50fb5a806e44f7febae"Mathias knew how dangerous a Vyking's life could be. Still, sometimes he really wished he could accompany Berwald on his adventures.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6d99a35f5305b50fb5a806e44f7febae" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8b7de8679bd17456900282b5fa303a7e"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"~*~*~/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b900a50384dc606bc52c4ff3945c5545"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Helloooo! /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as the one before :) Please tell me what you thought of it in the comments!/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="44168554176ca90feb7eb2e95168c410"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Have a nice day/week/month/year/life and I hope to see you again in the next chapter :)/span/p 


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